


The Next Avatar Book 1: Home

by latelyllama



Series: Avatar: The Legend of Kaidin [1]
Category: Avatar (TV), Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Next Generation, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-09 20:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12895641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/latelyllama/pseuds/latelyllama
Summary: Avatar Korra achieved many things in her life. Along with her friends, she saved the world countless times, and ushered in a new age in so many ways. When she died, it fell to the Order of the White Lotus to find the next Avatar among the independent Earth States. It has been nearly sixteen years and no Avatar has been found. Did the cycle end with Korra, or is the Avatar still out there, waiting to be found?





	1. The Missing Child

The white marble walls of the building did nothing to sap Dao’s mood. He walked heavily, his steps making loud echoes which bounced around him.

“Calm down Dao” his partner Yin told him.

He gave her a glare. How could she be so calm in this situation? She responded by giving him an understanding look. His anger diminished somewhat. She was in the exact same position as he. Both were returning with bad news. He looked passed her and saw his reflection in a window. His hair had begun to recede and looked a mess. Despite that, his robes were in pristine condition, the emblem of the White Lotus prominent and polished. Nobody could say that he didn’t look presentable. Despite his shortcomings, he always looked the part, something he was immensely proud of. Yin did not share his love of proper decorum. She wore her robes more casually, though he could not find enough faults to tell her to smarten up without being rude. He took a deep breath and collected himself. It would not do to go before their leader in this state. Yin placed a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll be fine” she reassured him.

“It’s just been so long.”

“It will be as long as it needs to.”

Dao stared down to the end of the corridor, to the door at the end where their leader was waiting. Taking another deep breath, he continued walking, Yin at his side. He knocked once.

“Enter.”

He and Yin exchanged one last look before they opened the door.

 

Master Tou’s office wasn’t the largest, but what space it had was used effectively. Immediately obvious were the walls. Three of them were dominated by huge maps. One showed a detailed view of the fire nation, another showed the two water tribes. Tou himself stood before the last, which showed the Earth States. Some said that this was the most detailed map of the States in the world. The door closed and Dao and Yin waited to be addressed. Tou continued studying the map for a moment before he turned to face the two. Yin looked over at Dao, as if asking he should say it.

“Were the reports true?” Tou asked, sitting down at his desk.

“I’m afraid not” Dao replied.

“Then we are back where we started.”

Tou leant forward in his chair, looking down at a paper in front of him. From what Dao could see, it was a list of locations. All but the last two had been struck through.

“What do we do now?” Yin asked.

“We follow our duty. We have been tasked with finding the Avatar and that is what we shall do.”

“But Master Tou, we have searched for so many years” Dao began, unsure of how best to phrase the question he dreaded asking, “is it possible that the Avatar didn't reincarnate into the Earth Kingdom?”

Tou considered for a moment.

“I don’t think so. Avatar Korra died of natural causes. There is no reason to believe that the cycle has been broken.”

“But if we don’t find them...?” Yin started, but Tou interrupted her.

“We will, I have faith. As such, I have a new lead for you.”

Dao perked up at hearing that, his doubts falling away.

“A young woman in the Siaw Tong state is rumoured to have frozen her best friend’s foot while playing in the river. This girl is confirmed as having earth bended before, so if these stories are true, that would make her the new Avatar. I want you to go and meet this young woman. Find out if our years of searching have been worth it.”

 

The ride from Republic City to Siaw Tong was long, though thankfully made faster by the new road that had been built. When the Earth Kingdom had originally separated into the independent states, transport between them had been tricky. Now that time had passed, and the kinks of the inter-state relations had been mostly worked out, new links were being made. The Earth States were beginning to become a fully functional unit, if one governed by several heads. Dao and Yin drove through several small towns. Most greeted them cordially. The Order of the White Lotus had a lot of prestige. However, they didn’t get a warm greeting from everyone. There was always at least one person, everywhere they went that eyed them with suspicion. Dao always brushed them off. He was sure of his duty, he didn’t care that people thought him a hyped up errand boy for the Avatar. Finally, after days of travelling, they arrived. The town was small, a fishing community based on the edge of the great lake in the centre of the continent. They disembarked from the car and walked into town. People mostly went about their business, some gave them awed looks. Dao looked around. There it was; an old man sat in the shade beneath a tree eyed them suspiciously. He said nothing, so Dao did not press the matter. He had a job to do. Somebody came running towards them.

“Thank you so much for coming. You honour us.”

She was a short woman, plump, with well-kept hair. Her clothes were simple, but Dao could see an official seal pinned to her front.

“We’ve heard stories about somebody in this town” Yin said, her voice dignified.

“Yes of course. I’ll take you to her” the woman said, gesturing them to follow her.

The two exchanged a glance and did so. They walked only a brief while before they were stopped by an oncoming vehicle. The long loud noise told Dao it was a motorcycle before he could see it. The rider pulled up alongside them and dismounted. The riding clothes were well worn and seemed very familiar to him. The rider pulled of their helmet and everything clicked into place. She was an older woman, well into her fifties, though only the single grey streak in her shoulder length hair spoke of her age. Her piercing eyes locked on the White Lotus members and she smiled.

“Dao, Yin, I thought I’d find you here” she said warmly.

The pair bowed respectfully.

“Master Jiyu, what a pleasant surprise” he replied.

Master Jiyu was a renowned master of fire bending. They had met only a few times, the first was when she had been selected as the Avatars firebending teacher. That had been nearly a decade ago. All of the other masters had since moved on to other things, but Master Jiyu remained available for when the Avatar was found.

“I take it you’re here because of the rumours as well” she asked them.

“Yes, though we didn’t think you’d be here” Yin said.

“I was just on my way back from Ba Sing Se. I heard the stories as we went through the Siaw Tong capital and I thought I’d come and see.”

“It is a great honour, Master. Now please, do follow me. She is most excited to meet you” the town official told them.

The three followed.

“It probably won’t be anything” Jiyu said.

“But it might be” Dao responded, trying to sound level headed.

“I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. We’ve all been in this position before.”

Dao sighed heavily.

“It’s been nearly sixteen years. Traditionally, this would be about the time when the young Avatar would begin their training. It must be some kind of miracle that we haven’t found them yet.”

Yin nodded in agreement. Master Jiyu said nothing to that. They wound their way through several streets before finding a rather small house. The official was waiting outside.

“This is it. She’s waiting for you inside.”

Dao gave Yin a tentative look before entering through the open door. The inside was somehow even smaller than the outside. It was one room, combining living room, dining room and kitchen. There were stairs at the back leading upstairs. Sat on the assortment of chairs in the room was a young girl and what Dao presumed were her parents. He looked at her, looked back at Yin who was just entering the building, and shook his head. The Avatar should be nearly sixteen; this girl could not be much older than ten. The woman Dao guessed to be the girl’s mother, jumped up to greet them.

“Thank you, thank you so much for coming. Our Ju has been so excited.”

The girl looked anything but excited.

“If I may, how old is your daughter, ma’am?” Dao asked, trying his best to still be polite.

“She just turned eleven last month” she replied with a huge smile on her face.

She was obviously thrilled to be the Avatars mother. Dao didn’t want to break her heart, but he had a duty to uphold.

“I’m afraid we have all been mistaken in this matter” he said in a neutral tone, “your daughter cannot be the Avatar.”

“What?” the mother asked, her smile instantly disappearing, “what do you mean?”

“Avatar Korra died nearly sixteen years ago. Your daughter is far too young.”

“But, but” the mother faltered, “surely there must be some delay. How can you be certain?”

“The exact way the Avatar cycle works is still a mystery, but we do know this much about the reincarnation.”

“But Ju can bend water and earth. She did it in front of the entire town last month.”

This did have Dao confused. Everything else about this girl said she couldn’t be the one, but if that was so, then how could she seemingly have water bended. Master Jiyu stepped forward. She crouched down to be at eye level with the still sitting girl.

“Ju, did you bend water?” she asked.

Ju looked at her mother before quickly shaking her head and looking away.

“What!” the mother shouted.

“It was Huon, he did it. He’s just really sneaky and looked like I did it” Ju confessed.

“But I’ve been telling everyone you’re the Avatar. The whole town believes it!” the mother rambled, bearing down on her daughter.

Jiyu stood up quickly, holding out a hand in warning.

“I’ve been wanting to tell you for weeks, but you wouldn’t listen” Ju said meekly.

The girl ran for the stairs. Her mother tried following her but was held back by Jiyu, who guided her to sit down in her chair.

“A case of mistaken identity, it happens” Jiyu told her.

Dao and Yin watched the exchange silently. It had been another dead end. Anger once again surged through him, but this time it was mixed with something else. It took him until they had reached their beds for the night that he finally placed the feeling. It was shame.

 

Jiyu rode with her entourage. The time they’d spent in town had been productive in its own way, but now she needed to move on. Night was drawing in, and she needed to out of Yanhai state before then. The mountains to the north loomed sharp and shear. She was glad that she didn’t need to make that journey. Fortunately the road curved around their feet, rolling with the terrain, making quite the pleasant journey. She’d left Dao and Yin in the town. They were staying the night there, but her schedule meant she had to keep moving. She was sure they were disheartened, she was too. The Avatar had been missing ever since Korra died, and the White Lotus were starting to get agitated. No doubt, the pair of them would be mulling it over all night, all the way back to Republic City. A small bump pulled her focus back to her driving. It was going to be a long night. Her radio buzzed, signalling her to stop. She pulled to the side of the road and looked back. The car she was travelling with a little further back, bent eschew in the road. As she pushed her motorcycle to join them, the driver and two passengers struggled to move the car off the road.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Tire blew out” the driver said.

One of the passengers, Wei, was bent over, examining the damage.

“How soon can you get it fixed?” Zhao, her student, asked him.

“Not sure, it doesn’t look like a normal blow out” Wei replied.

“What do you mean?” Jiyu asked.

“Look at that” he replied, pointing to a sharp piece of metal stuck into the rubber.

“Could just be debris from another vehicle” the driver pointed out.

Something didn’t feel right. Jiyu stood up and surveyed the area. They were at the foot of the mountains. There were lots of large boulders around them, as well as several trees. She strained her ears, desperately listening for any sound. The quiet was unnatural. All of a sudden, the ground shook slightly and a rock flew at them. She sent a fire blast at it, knocking the rock out of the way of Zhao.

“Ambush” she said, assuming a ready stance.

Zhao and the driver prepared to fight as well. From the rocks around them, figures emerged. They were dressed in animal furs and leathers, as well as bits of armour. They moved as one, as though they had rehearsed this. Jiyu focussed on her target. She jabbed quickly, sending several smaller bursts of bright orange fire at the oncoming marauders. In response, they raised rocks as cover, deflecting the fire before kicking their shields at them. She dove out of the way. These bandits were earthbenders. More were approaching from behind. She swung around, creating a great lasso of fire as she did so. It swung at her opponents. Most avoided it, but two were caught in the whip and were sent sprawling, cradling burns. She ducked out of the way of a rock, moving and twisting to avoid the projectiles. She could just about see Zhao fighting off four attackers. Zhao was talented, but he was obviously outmatched here. Jiyu rushed to his aid. Several bandits stood between her and him, but she kicked fire at them, breaking their line. She was at Zhao’s side. It became like a training session. Her breathing was calm and controlled; her motions fluid and precise. The fire that sprung from her finger tips danced around her. The rocks were now hitting a wall of fire. The bandits were hanging back, choosing to rely on distance to avoid the flames.

“Master, you need to get out of here” Zhao shouted above the roar.

“I’m not leaving you behind” she countered.

She unleashed a maelstrom, sending the bandits cowering behind their walls.

“With respect, we’ve only got your bike and if any of us could make it, it’s you” the driver said.

When he’d appeared alongside them she did not know. He’d somehow acquired a short sword from a bandit as well. Their reunion was brief. A cable shot from behind them. It wrapped around the driver’s waist and he was pulled away, yelling in surprise. Jiyu turned to face their new foe. He wasn’t outfitted like the others. He wore what looked like fabric and leather. There was no armour that she could see, unless you counted the metal bands he wore around his upper arms. At his waist, she saw two metal cases, like she’d seen the guards at Zaofu wear. The bandit stood like stone for a brief moment before suddenly charging forward. She sent a blast at him, but he was ready for her. He shot up into the air, out of harm’s way. She shot another fireball at him, but the bands came off his arms and formed a shield. A rock whizzed past her ear, drawing her attention the rest of the attackers. They charged, but she once again sent them into retreat. She looked around, trying to find Zhao, but instead she found Wei. He wasn’t a fighter, this much she knew. He was cowering by the side of the car, trying to stay out of the way. She took cover beside him.

“Wei, I need you to get out of here!”

“What?”

“Take my bike and get to the nearest town. I need you to alert the authorities!”

Wei processed for a moment, but the rock that landed near them made his mind up for him. She pushed the keys into his hand and gave him covering fire as he kicked the bike into life and drove off. The bandits seemed to think she was the bigger threat and let him be. Now she needed to find Zhao. The bright lights of his fire bending signalled his position as she moved to his aid. He was fighting admirably, just as she’d taught him, but his opponent was also very skilled. He moved confidently, bringing up rocks to defend while launching others to attack, bearing down on Zhao as he did so. All the while, from the metal cases on his hips, two long cables swung about menacingly. They crept wherever Zhao left on opening, always keeping him on his toes, just waiting to snare him. Zhao was clearly exhausted keeping this fight going. The bandit knew this and pressed the attack. He rose a boulder to deflect a fire blast, but Zhao wasn’t fast enough and a cable grabbed his leg. Before he could react, it reeled him in. The bandit launched his boulder and it met Zhao in the middle. Zhao dropped to the ground, beaten.

“NO!”

She jumped into the air and delivered a blistering assault, her jabs quick and furious, closing the distance between them. The bandit dodged or blocked all of her attacks. She only realised as she landed that he’d caught her in the same dance that Zhao had been in. As she dodged his rocks, the cables whipped towards her. Her attacks became more sporadic as she ducked and jumped between the earth and the metal. The bandit stamped the ground and dragged a huge rock up behind him. This was her chance. She darted forward, avoiding the cables and prepared to blast him. She was just about finished her movement, when she felt an impact on both of her hands. She looked and saw her hands encased in metal. The bandit stood ready for her. He’d shot out his armbands at her, stopping her from fire bending with her hands. The shock was enough, she wasn’t thinking clearly and the cables reeled in. They whipped around her legs, binding them together. She could barely move. Her opponent approached her cautiously, as did the other bandits.

“Is she going to keep fighting?” one of them asked her opponent, fear lacing his voice.

She saw that he was cradling burns of his own, whether from her or Zhao she couldn’t tell. She was not going to go down this easily. She faced her opponent once more, took a deep breath, and blew. Fire erupted from her mouth. He stood his ground. Fool, she thought, there is no way he could defend himself at this close range. Something hard slapped into her face. The fire almost went back down her throat. She coughed and spluttered, feeling what felt like a metal gag over her mouth. She looked up and saw the bandit still in front of her. One hand was extended from when he’d gagged her. The other was held in front of him. She recognised that move, it was a basic firebending block. The bandit moved so his hand was held to his side. His palm was glowing; he was still holding some of her fire. But that was impossible, unless. The realisation sapped any fight that was left in her.

“Now she won’t” her opponent told his fellows.

They bound her more tightly with metal cables. They blindfolded her and loaded her into what felt like a van, and all the while she didn’t resist. The White Lotus had been searching for nearly sixteen years, all in vain. They had never been able to find him, but this was him. This was the Avatar.


	2. Let's Begin

The ground was cold beneath her. There was pressure on her wrists and ankles, and something was pressed over her mouth. Visions of bright flashes and a single burning torch swam through her mind. Everything came back in a rush and Master Jiyu opened her eyes. Where was she? She tried looking around, but everything was in darkness. Slowly, her eyes adjusted. She was in a bare room, solid earth walls all around her. On one wall were narrow slits set towards the ceiling, through which slim rays of light streamed in, providing the only light in the room. So it was day time, she thought. How long had she been captive? She tried recalling what had happened. They had been ambushed by bandits. She’d fought them off, but one of them managed to beat her. Then she remembered. That earth bender was also a fire bender. That bandit was the Avatar. The thought of it chilled her more than the cold earth surrounding her. The Avatar had been born into a bandit tribe. Of course no one had found him; nobody would have ever thought to look there. She tried standing, but nearly tripped. Her wrists and ankles were bound in heavy chains to the floor. She had some movement so checked her body for injuries. She seemed fine, apart from the few injuries she’d taken in the attack. Her mouth was still gagged, but her hands were now free. Too bad she couldn’t move that much. There was a low rumbling, and she froze. In this situation, an earthbender was completely in their element. She needed to be careful, or this could all go very badly. In front of her, a section of the wall slid open. Someone entered the room, but she couldn’t make out who it was in the dark. The wall slid shut, leaving the two of them alone.

“I see you’re awake.”

The voice was young. She strained to see, sure it was him. A light appeared, a fire held in his hand, confirming to her his identity. This was the Avatar. He stood before for a moment, as though trying to figure out something about her. She remained still. He had all of the advantages here. He slowly moved around the room, the fire still in his hand.

“I didn’t want this. I told them I could keep learning from the scrolls we stole.”

She followed him with her eyes. He bent low and lit a brazier she hadn’t seen before. The fire took, crackling softly, filling the room with a small amount of warm light. He continued around the chamber, lighting more braziers as he went.

“They said that I needed someone to teach me. Fire benders aren’t exactly common in the Earth States, so we had to take whoever we could.”

He finished lighting the braziers. The room was now well lit and she could see him properly. He was short, well-built though not too muscly. The clothes he wore were a mixture of what looked like combat leathers and normal civilian clothes. All of it was black, with a deep red belt which his two cable holsters were attached to. His arms were bare apart for a metal band on his left. He’d obviously been fighting for a while, judging by the toned muscle. His pants stopped just below the knee and he wore no shoes. She looked again and saw a headband made of fabric tied around his head. He crossed his arms and stood before her.

“I’m going to take off that gag. If you blow fire at me again, it goes back on. Understand?”

She nodded. He made a pulling motion and the metal flew from her mouth and back to his right arm, making a matching band.

“You’re the Avatar!” she blurted out, forgetting her situation.

The boy nodded.

“I am, and you are going to teach me fire bending.”

Jiyu calmed herself. She couldn’t escape, not chained like this. Besides, she had no idea where she was. The single greatest hope for her escape was in front of her.

“I would gladly teach you” she replied.

The boy seemed surprised to hear that.

“I thought you’d resist more.”

“The White Lotus selects a master to teach the new avatar. I was the master to teach you firebending. I guess the universe had decided that for me.”

“You seem far too calm” he said suspiciously.

“I’m just glad to finally meet you. We’ve been looking for you for nearly sixteen years.”

“The White Lotus can keep looking.”

“When they realise what you’ve done, they’ll only look harder. They will find you.”

“Let them try” the boy said confidently.

“Why are you doing this? Even raised by bandits, you must realise the Avatar’s duty” she said, hoping to get through to him, “you need to let me go.”

The boy said nothing.

“At least tell me your name” she asked.

The boy still said nothing.

“I am Master Jiyu. It is a pleasure to meet you, young Avatar” she introduced herself, hoping the formality of it would open him up somewhat.

The boy looked as though he was going to speak, when the wall crashed open behind him.

“Kaidin!”

In strode a tall, muscular man. He towered over the boy and her, looking very intimidating. The boy, Kaidin, looked away from her and towards the man.

“I see you’re getting acquainted with your new master” he said.

He sounded gravelly, as though he had been chewing rocks before entering. Like Kaidin, he was also barefoot, but he also was bare-chested, revealing the extent of his strength. Instead of cables, he wore two impressive hammers. Jiyu didn’t want to think of the damage they could do.

“We were just talking” she said, trying to defuse the tension she could sense.

The man shot a finger at her.

“You don’t speak to me. Come with me kid.”

Kaidin left without a word. The man gave her one last look before leaving as well, slamming the wall shut as he did so.

 

The outside was bright compared to the dark of the cave. Kaidin kept his head down, letting his eyes adjust while sensing his way with his feet. He could feel Jian behind him. Jian would stop him when he wanted to say what he’d come to say, so Kaidin kept walking. The camp was just ahead of him, nestled on a small plateau between two peaks, when he felt Jian stomping towards him.

“Stop right there kid.”

Kaidin turned, taking a further step away from the imposing man, just to see how he’d react. He knew he shouldn’t push like this. He’d seen his leader crush someone’s throat with a single hand. Jian let the step go; whatever it was must have been more important. He waited, knowing that if he spoke first it would only put him in worse mood than he usually was in.

“You need to be careful around that one.”

“It’s not as if she can get out.”

“No not like that. She’s going to try and twist you against us. I just want to you to remember where your loyalties lie.”

“You don’t have to worry.”

“But I do worry. Last night, you had the perfect opportunity to kill that other fire bender, but instead you just left him lying on the road.”

“He’s probably dead already.”

“That’s not the point. They’re outsiders, all of them. They only want to take us all away and lock us in a cell. Out here, we’re free. I don’t want her poisoning you against us.”

Kaidin could have almost mistaken that tone for one of concern. If only he didn’t know Jian so well.

“Like I said, you don’t have to worry. She won’t turn me away from my family.”

Jian seemed satisfied with that and stalked past him, leaving Kaidin alone with his thoughts.

 

The tension in the office could be cut with a knife. Dao sat with Yin in his leader’s office. Tou sat opposite them. On the desk in between, the police report lay where they had all finished reading it. Master Jiyu had been kidnapped by a group of bandits. Where she was now, whether she was even still alive, nobody knew. But it was the detail at the very end that held their attention. The witness had driven away, but doubled back in some fit of heroism. He’d seen Jiyu do battle with one of the bandits. He’d seen her be bound in metal chains before blowing fire at her attacker. He’d seen the bandit use firebending to defend himself.

“The Avatar is a bandit” Yin said, as if saying it out loud would help her understand.

“It would seem so” Tou replied.

Dao slammed his fist on the arm of his chair.

“Dammit!”

“Dao” Yin said reassuringly, though what exactly would calm him, he had no idea.

“Why didn’t we check, why did nobody even think of the possibility that he’d be reborn into a bandit tribe?” Dao asked, fuming.

“Because there are very few bandit tribes still left in the Earth States. Because people only see them when they attack. Because out of all the people in the Earth States, the chances of it happening were so slim, we all thought it was practically impossible.”

How Tou could remain so calm, Dao did not know. He stood up abruptly and moved over to a small window beside the Earth States map. Outside, the cool mist of the Republic City morning were just starting to clear. The world kept on moving. Did it care who the Avatar was?

“What are we going to do Master?” Yin asked.

Dao turned to face Tou, whose head was resting on his fists.

“This turn of events is unfortunate, but our course is still the same. We find the Avatar and bring him home” he replied, “at least now we know where he is.”

“Do we? Those mountains spread across at least six states” Dao fired back.

“Then we contact the governors of each of those states, asking them about a bandit settlement. We are this close, we cannot lose faith now.”

Dao steadied himself and sighed. This was closer than they’d been in years. It would not do to lose his head now. He needed to remember the promise he made, the promise that would lead him to his goal. “Dao, Yin, I want you to go to the capital of Rong. Coordinate with the police force there. Avatar or not, we need to rescue Master Jiyu.”

 

A small river ran through the centre of the camp. Its babbling sound was quite soothing compared to the eerie silence of the surrounding mountains. Kaidin was downstream of the village. Despite the biting wind, he felt warm. Balanced on some rocks next to him was a battered scroll. It had seen much use even before it had manhandled out of a traders van. It was open at the beginning, the slightly faded drawings showing the basic firebending forms. Kaidin had poured over them for hours and made little progress. He took a deep breath and tried again. He felt the energy in his body, felt the heat start in his hand, saw the first of the flames take shape. He punched forward. The scroll said that the fire he made should shoot forward as well. Instead, it made a puffing sound before going out, like it had every time he’d tried it. Frustrated, he turned his back on the scroll. He thought of Master Jiyu, locked away and out of sight. They had kidnapped her to be his teacher, yet he hadn’t asked them too. He would eventually get the hang of learning from books, and his tribe would be all the safer for it. Why did they have to go and draw attention to themselves like this? He felt footsteps approaching and smiled when he realised who it was. He turned and saw his grandmother, Mama D. She wasn’t actually his grandmother, but she was the oldest of the tribe and acted like a grandmother to everyone. The matriarch of the tribe, Jian may have officially led them, but even her deferred to her judgement when he needed it.

“One of these days I’ll sneak up on you” she said warmly, pulling him into an embrace.

“Maybe” he replied.

D saw the open scroll. She pulled away and gave him a questioning look.

“Why aren’t you with that fire bender you found last night?” she asked.

Kaidin turned away from her.

“She shouldn’t be here. It was stupid to even try.”

“What are you afraid of here Kaidin? That she’ll escape?”

Her voice was warm and kind, putting him at ease.

“When people go missing, people come looking. If they come looking for us, then we’ll never be safe. They’ll lock us up.”

D shook her head slightly.

“I see Jian has already given you that talk.”

Kaidin looked puzzled.

“As soon as you brought her back, he was saying he was going to do it. He will keep this tribe safe, even if that means from you.”

“But I would never hurt any of us. You are all my family.”

“I know that, and he knows that, but you know how he gets. He only ever thinks about the good of the tribe, but he can be ruthless, far more than is needed."

When Kaidin said nothing, she continued.

“You should go to your teacher.”

“She’s not my teacher!”

“Oh really, and that scroll is?”

Kaidin tried to argue back, but didn’t have anything to say. He looked down, defeated.

“Kaidin, I know you. You never did learn well from books. If we didn’t have a tribe of so many skilled earthbenders, I don’t think you’d be anywhere near as good as you are now.”

Kaidin looked up at her, silently asking her what to do. She reached out a hand and took his cheek.

“You need a teacher. She’s here, right now. You know what Jian will do if you don’t do anything.”

Kaidin stepped away and rolled up the scroll. Mama D was right, as she always was.

 

Jiyu waited patiently. She’d been replaying the interaction from earlier in her mind. The Avatar was called Kaidin. He didn’t seem in charge; that was the big guy. The Avatar did what the big guy said. This did not bode well. The wall slid open once again. She looked up, hoping to see the Avatar, but in walked the big guy, flanked by two other bandits. One she recognised from the night before, the one who’d asked whether she would keep fighting. The burn still looked bad, but the bandit was smiling viciously. She did not like this.

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

“It seems that the Avatar is set on learning by himself. I can’t blame him. Why should we trust you outsiders to do anything?” the big guy said.

His tone was scarily devoid of emotion. The two bandits exchanged a look and both looked very pleased. She connected the dots as the first, the one from the previous night, threw a rock at her. She tried diving out of the way, but the chains only let her go so far. It caught her arm, sending her spinning in her dive. The chains tangled her legs and she fumbled trying to get up.

“What are you doing?” she shouted.

“Not so tough now, are you?” the burned bandit taunted.

“If the Avatar won’t learn from you, then you’re a threat so long as you are here” the big guy said, walking casually forward.

He lifted his arms above his head, pulling a huge boulder up from the ground behind him. It loomed over his head. Slowly, it hovered over her. She struggled, but the chains had tangled themselves too much. This was going to be it. The light streaming through the open chamber wall was blocked suddenly. A shadow moved quickly into the room. It slid beneath the big guy’s wide stance. It was Kaidin. He twisted strongly, wrenching the cable he’d attached to the big guy’s ankle. The big guy fell hard, his leg yanked out from under him. The boulder fell but Kaidin blasted it away. The other bandits were stunned, too shocked to move.

“Jian, that’s enough!” he shouted, standing defiantly between Jiyu and the big guy.

Jian got back to his feet. He looked angry. He lashed out, catching Kaidin across the face. Kaidin turned it into a spinning kick, sending a rock flying at Jian’s head. It was blocked easily, but Kaidin had already spun back to facing Jian. He slapped his hands together out in front of him, making a small burst of fire in Jian’s face. He backed down, but still looked thunderous.

“Don’t test me kid!” he fumed.

“She’s my firebending teacher, the one that you risked us all for me to get, and you were just going to kill her!” Kaidin fired back.

They stared each other down. Jiyu remained still, not wanting to provoke another attack. Kaidin was skilled, but she didn’t know if he could beat Jian. He had only backed down because he hadn’t expected fire. Jian jabbed a finger at Kaidin.

“Try another stunt like that and there will be several more lessons that I’ll need to teach you!”

He stomped out of the chamber. His lackeys followed quickly, not wanting to fight Kaidin. When they were gone, Kaidin slid the wall shut and let out a big sigh of relief.

“Thank you” Jiyu said sincerely.

“Let’s make one thing clear. I don’t want you here, I never asked for you to be here, but I’m not just going to let them kill you” Kaidin said, the same distant boy from earlier in the day back again.

“All the same, thank you, you didn't have to.”

Kaidin moved over to her.

"No, I didn't, but it was the right thing to do."

He flicked out his hands and the chains on her wrists and ankles fell away.

“Shall we get started then?” he asked her.

She stood, rubbing some feeling back into her limbs.

“Yes. Let’s begin.”


End file.
